


Decommssioned

by xantissa



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Slavery, M/M, Multi, Off-screen torture, Other Species, Sephiroth not really sane but getting better, Space Opera, Zack is a flirt, really bad innuendo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-27
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-04-23 17:08:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4884898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xantissa/pseuds/xantissa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reason one why Cloud Strife should never go shopping on his own: instead of one android he buys a couple of decommissioned ShinRa soldiers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The idea is so unoriginal it hurts. The idea itself is not mine, the person who I am borring the general idea of a space opera for this fandom knows who she is and I just want to say thank you. This will not be a long fic, 3 or 4 chapters at the most.  
> Setup:  
> Shinra had decided to trade their SOLDIERS for a newer kind of weapon, and instead of just leaving them be, decided to sell them off as slaves. Cloud Strife, a young Captain of the ship Fenrir, buys them. A space opera with magic and mako.

Zack sat down beside Sephiroth on the thin moldy blanket that served as their bedding, ignoring the shuffling and quiet miserable sounds of the other slaves penned with them. He much preferred the big, common slave pens to the single cells some of the traders provided.

 

It stank with so many people crammed into such a small space, the tiny compact toilet in the corner didn’t help the smell any, but its position allowed him to lie down and press all along Sephiroth’s body in the very corner of the wall.

 

“Hey, Seph,” he said gently, worming closer to that big body, now dressed in drab pants and tunic instead of the long leather coat that had been his trademark for most of his life.

 

His friend didn’t respond, and Zack tried not to think of the last time Sephiroth had actually made a sound.

 

“It’s going to be okay, you know,” he said quietly, doing his best to wrap himself around the bigger man, not sure if he was offering comfort, or trying to get some. “We’ll get through this,” he promised, desperately.

 

Sephiroth said nothing, his cat-green eyes half-lidded and staring blankly forward, not showing any indication of having heard Zack at all.

 

*          *          *

 

Zack sighed and crossed his arms in front of himself, trying to freeze his face in the best scowl he was capable of. With how enhanced they were came the fact that they were both handsome, in Sephiroth’s case ridiculously, even. It was always a risk that a brothel would try to pick them up. There were two things working in their favor. Their enhancement meant most of the standard drugs wouldn’t work very well, and if they did, they would build immunity at a rabid pace. The second was pure attitude. Even though it went against everything he was, Zack did everything he could to look as fucking intimidating as possible.

 

He glanced back at Sephiroth sitting slumped against the support rod. He didn’t try to get away from the chain around his ankle, but neither was he sitting on the little platform designed to show off the merchandise. Actually, the amount of hardware on them was kind of ridiculous. There were the torturous, slave collars. There were the bracelets full of only god knew what poison, and the chains on their ankles.

 

They had moved through eight wholesalers and three merchants already. So far, two brothels had tried to buy them. One was discouraged by Zack’s attitude, the other…eventually returned them to the merchant demanding compensation. Their current owner had tried punishing Sephiroth for the lack of cooperation, but it hadn’t worked as the man expected. Sadly, the bastard was smart enough to recognize that punishing Zack would hurt Sephiroth more than any lash on his back.

 

The gashes healed, the mako in his system taking care of all the wounds in extremely short time, but the damage done to Seph, who was forced to watch, seemed permanent.

 

The former general became listless, almost motionless after that. He wouldn’t fight any more.

 

The passive shows of defiance were the only thing keeping Zack’s hope alive that his friend was still okay, buried somewhere deep under that blank facade. When Sephiroth took to pulling off small parts of metal sheeting that lined their pen, and proceed to shred it into small bits in his hands (the way other people might shred napkins) Zack was glad. Creepy as hell it might be, but at least it made the other slaves, and more importantly, other customers give them a wide berth.

 

The merchant was getting desperate to get rid of them, and it was both a chance and a threat. It was definitely Zack’s duty to make sure they went to some half-decent person.

 

Otherwise Seph might decide that trying to live with this was too much, and go for the wholesale murder option. Of course, eventually they would be caught and tortured to death in the most showy fashion possible. The things traditionally done to escaped slaves didn’t bear thinking about. They would probably hold out on the run longer than most, both being SOLDIERS First Class, but they would be caught and killed eventually. While Zack wouldn’t be as optimistic as to say it would never happen, he wasn’t ready to give up yet. He’d always been a lucky person, he was bound to get a break eventually.

 

Right?

 

A flash of blonde hair in the throng of curious, greedy gawkers caught his eye.

 

The huge trade hall was divided into parts, devoted to decommissioned military equipment, and in recent years, even included SOLDIERs, of which Zacke was an example, weapons, vehicles, technology, supplies… In short, it was a truly overblown garage sale.

 

He caught sight of a short blonde with hair nearly as untamed as his own, dressed all in black, with a Buster sword on his back.

 

Zack sighed enviously, recognizing quality even from a distance.

 

The blond was frowning, looking at a piece of paper in his hands and then looking up at the throng of people scurrying around him. He could as well have had a flashing banner claiming: LOST over his head.

 

He looked adorable. All frowny and pale, obviously a spacer, he made Zack’s hands itch with the urge to hug the guy and maybe feed him.

 

Zack craned his neck a little, trying to see what was written on the paper. His enhanced body included truly superior eyesight and catching words: robotics, android and AI was enough for him to get the gigst.

 

“Hey!” he called, erasing his face of the scowl he’d cultivated for months. He had the incredible urge to grin at the guy, but resisted, opting to look neutral. “Blondie! The frowning, short one!”

 

Zack had to bite his cheek not to smirk; of course the guy’s head jerked up at the ‘short’. Zack’s instinct for teasing was unparalleled.

 

He watched the bright blue eyes lock on his. There was a kind of soft glow to the guys eyes and wow, but was the kid pretty. Zack’s knee-jerk reaction was that the youth was a SOLDIER like him, but the short stature, blond hair and blue eyes almost screamed Nibelheimer. They were a humanoid race that discovered that unique conditions on their planet meant that once somebody left it and spent sufficient time in space, his body showed enhancement very similar to SOLDIER. Personally Zack thought that ShinRa got the idea to introduce the enhancement program in their military from the Nibleheimers.

 

ShinRa had conquered Nibleheim a long time ago, before Zack’s time, but it hadn’t ended well for them. The cold, almost completely frozen planet was mostly bare of valuable resources, rich in violent wildlife, and natives with truly nasty attitude to everything foreign. Maintaining a base there had cost a fortune. For years it had been ShinRa property in name only.

 

“You looking for something?” Zack asked, interested to see how the blond reacted to him.

 

He noticed the sky blue eyes flick down, up, and then jerk back to the chain on his leg. There was something fierce in the boy’s expression for a split second, a tiny, disgusted twist to his lips before his face closed down completely.

 

 

The kid was too young to have a game face as impenetrable as Sephiroth. For a moment he wondered what could have happened to someone this young to make him develop it? A second later Zack wasn’t sure he actually wanted to know. Years ago he’d asked Seph that question and had learned that he would have been better off never knowing. Even now, impotent fury at how Seph had been treated his life would keep Zack awake at nights.

 

“Robots,” came a quiet answer, the guy coming hesitantly closer.

 

Zack kept his eyes fixed on the youth, trying to urge him closer by sheer force of will.

 

He could also feel goosebumps slowly forming on his neck, which was an indication of Sephiroth’s attention switching to him, even if the man never raised his eyes from his boots.

 

“Yeah? What for?”

 

The blond looked him in the eye. There was no sign of contempt or disgust in them.

 

“Help. I run a delivery service.” The boy spoke quietly, as if unused to interacting with people. If he spent as much time in space as his complexion indicated, Zack wouldn’t be surprised if it was the exact truth.

 

“And you want robots?” Zack asked incredulously.

 

For the first time, the blond dropped his gaze, clearly avoiding Zack’s eyes. His gloved hands rubbed over his thighs in a quickly-halted motion, a nervous tick that clearly the kid was aware of.

 

“People…don’t stay long.” His voice went even quieter and Zack was stunned by his immediate urge to find those so-called ‘people’ and rip their ears off.

 

“That dangerous, huh?” Zack purposefully pretended to misunderstand the implications of the blond’s words.

 

The sky blue eyes snapped to him, the mask cracking for a moment to let Zack see the baffled hurt, before they shuttered again and he nodded.

 

There and then Zack decided that the boy just had to buy them.

 

“I bet a SOLDIER First Class would have no problem with working with you.” This time he grinned. “Nothing much scares us.”

 

The blue eyes widened, their gaze jumping from Zack’s face to his slave collar.

 

Zack did his best to fucking beg with his eyes.

 

“You’d even get two for the price of one!” he promised with false cheerfulness. He’d already noticed they had attention of the merchant, the overweight man already making his way towards Cloud. As disgusting as the man was, he was also shrewd. The expression he wore showed that he’d noticed that Zack was doing his job for him. The merchant winced at the two-for-one offer, but said nothing to contradict it. He was obviously more desperate than Zack thought.

 

“My friend is a First too! A hard worker, never complains.” Zack continued his spiel. Sephiroth hadn’t made a sound in months so he definitely wasn’t prone to complaining right? “And he has a good head for strategy and numbers.” _Like counting all the ways he could kill you_ , Zack added silently. Still, first things first. Have the kid buy them. Then make sure Seph didn’t maul him as soon as they were out of sight.

 

Zack had noticed the incredulous look the merchant was giving him, but thankfully the blond hadn’t. Yet.

 

“So what do you say? I bet a pair of SOLDIERs would kick your business into gear in no time!” Zack grinned winningly, subtly flexing his muscles.

 

He sensed the capitulation before he saw it. Something in the way the blond slumped, wilted under his gaze assured Zack that he just managed to sell himself.

 

And Sephiroth.

 

He made sure to stand in direct line of sight of the blond, blocking even a glimpse of his slumped friend in the back. They couldn’t afford to scare the kid off now.

 

“Cloud Strife,” the blond offered suddenly, again looking Zack right in the eyes.

 

Zack had no idea how much it would mean to him, to have people look him in the eye, until he’d been made a slave, and suddenly everybody looked at him like he was something less than human. It was rare that people initiated eye contact with a slave.

 

“Zack Fair,” he answered with a grin, watching the merchant from the corner of his eye as he edged nearer to close the deal immediately, obviously as afraid that Cloud would change his mind as Zack was.

 

The formalities didn’t take long, probably less time than buying a car. Just the press of a card to a reader, an exchange of chips containing their data, and Zack was officially owned by Cloud Strife.

 

What he didn’t expect was to see Cloud open the data chips and read through the equipment they had with them. The merchant sighed through clenched teeth and invited the blond to come and get the equipment.

 

Zack took a moment of vindictive pleasure when he realised the merchant wasn’t physically strong enough to carry it out to Cloud. With a snicker he watched Cloud disappear into the little storage container. A few moments later he was back, lugging two large duffels and hauling two additional swords. One was Zack’s Buster sword, wrapped in green military cloth, and the second was the insanely long blade Sephiroth loved as though it was part of him.

 

For a moment Zack forgot to breathe, hoping against hope that Seph wouldn’t snap at seeing someone else handle the Masamune.

 

Cloud stopped in front of him as the Merchant bent to unsnap the chains around his legs.

 

“Um, Sephiroth?” Cloud asked, looking curiously into the pen behind Zack.

 

With a flash of winning smile, Zack turned to the dark corner where Seph sat. He wasn’t sure if his friend was aware of the change in ownership or if he’d blanked it all the way he’d been blanking out everything else, including Zack, for months now.

 

But it appeared Zack needn’t have been worried at all.

 

As soon as Zack turned to him, Seph curled his legs under himself and in one unfairly graceful move, unfolded his large frame. In that same smooth move Seph crossed the pen with its little wooden stage and jumped down in front of Cloud. His long, dirty hair caught in the breeze, exposing his face completely for a brief moment before he circled the blond and stopped two paces behind his right shoulder.

 

Zack looked up at Cloud just to catch his dumbfounded expression. The kid looked as if somebody had just hit him on the head with how own sword.

 

It didn’t take long to get out of the trade hall after that. In a matter of minutes they were standing on a teleport platform, and Cloud was entering the code for his ship. When the comm blinked to life, Cloud said:

 

“Three to teleport.”

 

Seconds later Zack was blinking the light out of his eyes in a transport bay of a…

 

“Holy hell, is this a Fenrir?!”

 

He could see Cloud smile a tiny, proud smile before another voice joined them.

 

“Welcome back, Cloud. Damn, but you should probably go shopping more often if _this_ is what you bring back!” There was so much insinuation in the cheery, female voice, Zack decided then and there that he was a little in love.

 

Cloud flushed from the tips of his ears down to his neck.

 

Zack wondered how far the flush went.

 

“This is Aeris, the ship's AI,” Cloud introduced, not looking at anyone.

 

“Hi Aeris!” Zack called, smiling as charmingly as he knew how. “I’m Zack Fair! Nice to meet you. You sound lovely.”

 

There was a very girlish giggle from the loudspeakers.

 

“Oh, you are a flirt.” She sounded pleased, though.

 

“Don’t take it the wrong way, but weren’t Fenrirs designed for a single pilot and no AI at all?” he asked, the discrepancy eating at him.

 

Cloud flushed again.

 

“A year ago, I asked Cid Highwind to build some upgrades for Fenrir. When I came back for my ship, Aeris was already there and refused to leave.”

 

Zack could feel his brows climbing. An AI that refused to leave? And now that he thought about it, weren't Fenrir class ships designed to be piloted manually?

 

“Oh Cloud, honey, if it wasn’t for me you would forget what human interaction is like! He is very shy, you know,” Aeris informed them eagerly.

 

Cloud flushed again.

 

Zack could sense the start to a beautiful friendship here.


	2. Chapter 2

Cloud watched Sephiroth and Zack disembark from the teleportation platform, still shaking off water. After a week in a place that was plagued by the rains that tended to vary between downpour and deluge with no breaks at all, they were all cold and soaked to the bone.

 

Still, the delivery went without a hitch; not many people tended to tangle with Cloud and his two augmented helpers these days, even though Cloud had only had them for a few months. It seemed that the galaxy was the biggest small town ever, and everybody knew he’d bought two First’s on a slave market.

 

Sephiroth stowed his gear on the designated self and was gone, probably to hole up in his quarter within minutes of landing.

 

Zack was still fumbling with his soggy belts, complaining for all he was worth.

 

“I swear kid, I do not want to see any kind of falling water for at least a month after this. Two, if possible! however I am cold down to my toes and really, really need a hot shower. The thing is, I love hot showers. If I go take one now, I am afraid I will start to hate it though, so you can understand my problem, right Cloud?”

 

Big, gleaming, purple eyes turned on him with the saddest, most pitiful puppy-dog eyes Cloud had ever seen in anything human.

 

The only thing that distracted Cloud from melting into a shameless puddle of goo was the stretch of wet shirt over the unfairly muscled chest and biceps, the way Zack’s hands were still pulling his wide belt from his pants.

 

 _One. Beltloop. At. A. Time_.

 

Cloud swallowed, shaking the dirty thoughts from his mind, losing track of the monologue Zack had picked up again.

 

“Zack,” he interrupted, nervous about what he was going to propose.

 

“Yes?”

 

“I want to try deactivating your collar,” he blurted out.

 

Wide, purple eyes stared at him, taken aback. Taking off a slave’s collar was unheard of. They usually wore them till they died. One without a collar would be immediately marked as a runaway. Cloud couldn’t take it off, but if the codes Aeris got for him worked, the collar could be made…safe.

 

“Why?” Zack asked, oddly serious, his eyes intense and focused on him in a way that made Cloud’s hands tremble.

 

“Because I would never use them on anybody!” he exploded before lowering his eyes, breaking the contact. “And I would hate to see anybody use them on you.”

 

And they could. Most of the torture codes were common knowledge, so one could disable somebody else’s slave just as easily as one’s own. It was also a way to limit the use of slaves for illegal activities.

 

Zack smiled at him, not the blinding grin of before, but a smaller, gentler movement of lips.

 

“I know kid,” he admitted, coming closer in order to ruffle Cloud’s hair.

 

“Only I’m not sure it will work,” Cloud admitted. “Aeris tried, but…”

 

“If it was that easy, more people would do it?” Zack offered with a wry grin.

 

*          *          *

 

For only entering some numbers into a tiny keypad, Cloud felt incredibly exhausted. It was probably the stress, the horrible tension that locked his muscles tight every time he stood behind Zack and entered a code, praying to all the gods he’d heard of, that this one would disable the collar, not trigger another round of pain.

 

He was wrong seven times.

 

Each time, after Zack stopped screaming, the SOLDIER got up, sat on the chair he fell out of and grinned at Cloud to continue.

 

When finally the collar chirped at him, signalling that something had changed, it was time to test if it was deactivated, or if Cloud had somehow messed everything up again.

 

He couldn’t get the command words out though.

 

It took Zack standing patiently before him, one hand closed firmly, warmly over his wrist, a grin stretching his face as he cajoled:

 

“Come on, Cloud. Just say it. We need to be sure it’s deactivated before we can tell Seph, right?”

 

Cloud had never before tortured anybody. Eventually he said the words, and blessedly nothing happened, besides the exuberant whoop and a fierce hug he got from Zack. Still, he was sure that moment was going to feature heavily in his dreams.

 

The door to Zack’s quarters swished closed behind him and he turned to go to his own room, tired and more than ready for some rest, when a sense of movement made him turn. his enhanced reflexes let him see the streak of silver but he wasn’t quite quick enough to face the threat. Before he had the time to react properly, all air was driven from his lungs as he hit the wall shoulder-first with enough force that something popped, sending sparks of agony through his body. Cloud opened his mouth to gasp, or scream but in that same instant, a large, got hand landed on his face. Fingers as hard and strong as steel pressed mercilessly on the hinges on his jaw, making his eyes water and forcing his jaw to hang low and useless.

 

Another impossibly strong hand was closed over his uninjured arm, pulling back and twisting, one muscled thigh forcing it’s way between his legs and effectively taking away any kind of leverage from him.

 

Cloud’s panicked thoughts scattered, worrying why wasn’t Aeris recating? Had they been boarded? Who could be strong enough to disable him quite this fast? Cloud could feel his assailant pressed all along his back, a huge wall of scorching hot muscle, hard as steel.

 

It was the wisp of smoke-grey hair that floated into his line of sight that made him realise it was Sephiroth. Suddenly the hand forcing his jaw loose made sense, the man disabling his ability to command the slave collar by voice. The part of his mind not forced on keeping still, was in awe at the ruthlessly effective strategy, another was strangely fascinated by the fact that this man was stronger than him, at least better trained, and had been such a long time since that happened.

 

“I am going to kill you,” Sephiroth said, and Cloud shivered, not only because of the matter-of- fact words, but the _sound_ of the man’s voice. It was a low, rumbling purr all wrapped up in velvet, and Cloud was sure that if he survived, he’d dream of that voice for many nights.

 

Just as he felt the large hand on his face tense in obvious preparation of snapping his neck, Zack’s door swished open.

 

“Wha…” Zack’s eyes widened to an almost comical degree before the man moved, and there it was, the SOLDIER speed that the dark-haired man tended to downplay so much.

 

He was beside them in a moment, one hand on Sephiroth’s wrist, one raised open-palmed in the air.

 

“Seph! What are you doing!”

 

Cloud really wished he could speak, could tell Zack to get away, not engage the older man, strangely sure this wasn’t any kind of plot against Cloud.

 

“I saw him going into your room.”

 

Zack was so close, Cloud saw his eyes go even wider as understanding struck. In a way, Cloud felt strangely excluded, even if it was his life hanging by a thread here.

 

“Seph…”

 

“I heard you _scream_.” The last word was said with enough ice to freeze Cloud in place better than the tightening, so much pure loathing and killing intent could render him mute even better than the hand on his jaw.

 

“Seph! Stop mauling the kid long enough to let me explain!” Zack pleaded, his eyes jerking from wide pleading being thrown at Sephiroth and apologetic glances at Cloud. “Cloud didn’t do anything bad. I swear.” Zack gave a tug at the arm closest to him, and Cloud could tell by the way his muscles bulged, it wasn’t a gentle one.

 

“With the collar, you wouldn’t be able to defend yourself,” the silver-haired man said, and Cloud could swear he could feel the focus the older man moved onto him.

 

Zack cringed and threw Cloud another apologetic glance.

 

“Seph, I swear Cloud didn’t force himself on me,” he said firmly and Cloud blanked for a moment.

 

What?

 

Did Sephiroth think he…raped Zack?

 

“I saw the way he watched you before.” Sephiroth wasn’t letting go, but there was a subtle difference in the tension in the body behind Cloud. No longer on the edge of killing him, Sephiroth was more focused on keeping him still.

 

Zack’s grin turned sheepish.

 

“I might have flirted a bit too much.”

 

Cloud blinked at the wall he was facing.

 

Zack flirted?

 

“I did hear you scream,” said the older man, his voice still deadly cold.

 

“Seph, he came to my room to try and deactivate my slave collar. I wanted him to try it on me before I tried it on you.” Zack explained patiently, and this time when he tugged, Sephiroth let go of Cloud’s jaw. Taking a step back, he released Cloud completely.

 

“Explain.”

 

So Zack did, quickly and efficiently summarizing the whole evening, while Cloud tried to get his arm and jaw moving properly again.

 

He still couldn’t get over the fact that one, Sephiroth was so damned strong and two, he thought Cloud used the torture function on Zack’s collar to rape the man. While he expected them to have a low opinion of him since he’d bought them like a piece of equipment in a store, he didn’t realise it was quite this low.

 

With a last, cold look from the unfairly beautiful but cold man, Sephiroth turned on his heel and strode away, while they both just gaped after him.

 

“So….that was awkward.” Zack rubbed his neck. “Don’t let him fool you okay, kid? Seph is just very protective of his friends. Too protective at times. He likes you, I promise!”

 

Cloud rubbed his aching arm and glared.

 

“No really! He does!” Zack insisted, arms gesturing wildly. “He wouldn’t wait long enough for me to interrupt if he really wanted you dead,” Zack admitted. “And besides, his suspicion wasn’t completely unfounded okay?” This time it was Zack who sounded uncomfortable.

 

Cloud jerked his head at those words.

 

Zack? Loyal, bright, friendly Zack was forced to…

 

“So...” Zack started with a patently false cheer. “I’ll talk to him, okay? I’ll explain and nothing like this will ever happen again. You won’t hold this against him, right?

 

Cloud stared at Zack and thought of somebody using the shock function on his collar to force Zack into submission… He really hoped Sephiroth ripped them apart with his bare hands, the way Cloud wanted to now.

 

“Yeah,” he agreed under the force of Zack’s pleading eyes and the way he kept casting worried glances where Sephiroth had disappeared.

 

“Will you be all right?” The dark haired SOLDIER was looking at him worriedly, so Cloud straightened up.

 

“Yes.” He nodded down the corridor. “Go after him.”

 

Zack grinned at him, an honest grin this time, and sketched a smart salute at him.

 

“Yes, Boss!”

 

*          *          *

 

Cloud sat in his Captain’s chair, the bridge empty and dark around him, only the slow blinking light of _Aeris’s_ automated system lights showing that the ship was in movement, the Highwind being too big to ever feel the momentum of its speed inside.

 

His jaw still ached, the shoulder sending pangs of pain with every movement. The damage would be healed by tomorrow he knew, but it was a tangible reminder of how _fast_ the silver-haired man was.

 

Cloud hadn’t even seen, hadn’t even sensed the man before Sephiroth was on him, grip so tight Cloud couldn’t even twitch, not to mention free himself from that clench.

 

It was stupid, to become so reckless, so blind to the obvious threat of the older man. He blamed Zack. The SOLDIER was as friendly as his grin implied, open and dependable. In just a few missions he’d quickly become the closest thing to a best friend Cloud had ever had. Unconsciously, Cloud took his cues from Zack, who always treated the older man as a friend, was never afraid of him. So what if Sephiroth was cold, unfriendly and silent? He was never any trouble, pulled his share of work on every mission and never, ever complained. Now that he thought about it, the older man had never even seemed to look at Cloud directly during the whole month he’d been on board the ship. He didn’t blame Sephiroth though. He wouldn’t be friendly in his place if he was bumped from being some kind of general to a slave.

 

“Aeris, show me Zack’s and Sephiroth’s profiles.”

 

“The ones on their papers or should I get my own info?” the female voice said wryly.

 

“You need to ask?”

 

The giggle was a familiar and welcome sound in the empty space of cavernous ship.

 

The hologram of Zack was life sized, taller than Cloud and wider, as well. The man was dressed in Shinra SOLDIER First Class charcoals with a huge Buster sword strapped to his back. He was grinning, wide and friendly, his hair a riot of black spikes, a bit shorter than now. Cloud felt his breath catch a bit, the same way it had in that slave market when they’d seen him for the first time.

 

Zack looked glorious and full of life, his eyes shining with more than just mako.

 

Beside him, a hologram on his skills and fighting statistics unfolded, glowing gold in the dark of the bridge.

 

“Not only pretty, but smart, too is our Zack,” Aeris sighed, her voice the same dreamy murmur that she’d adopted for talking about Zack from the first moment he’d stepped foot on her deck. Cloud very seriously thought his ship had a crush on the SOLDIER.

 

His eyes skimmed the impressive list of skills, the materia affinities, the unbelievable list of mastered weapons and a very, very long list of accomplishments.

 

Shinra had been insane to let this kind of asset go, but it was Cloud’s experience that the more power one had, the less they noticed those beneath them.

 

“And Sephiroth?”

 

“I don’t think I have all his data. It’s…suspiciously fragmented, but here is what I’ve got.”

 

A hologram of the silver-haired man appeared. While Zack was what Cloud more-or-less expected, Sephiroth was definitely _not_.

 

Black leather coat reaching his ankles, that insane blade of his sheathed at his side, wide belt to protect his vitals, and bare chest crossed by the heavy belts of his sword harness. His long hair a silver flag on his back. It wasn’t even the leather that made Cloud’s breath catch and something heavy turn in his stomach. It was the sheer power and self assurance, almost tangible even in this standard hologram. Cloud thought of the quiet, distant, _broken_ man, and couldn’t wrap his head around what must have happened to make him that way. Sephiroth was not a general, he’d been The General, the acting head of the whole ShinRa army. He’d led whole armies into battle and conquered the planet of Wutai in the last Shinra intergalactical conflict.

 

Cloud read the insanely long list of skills, the fairly ridiculous catalogue of things he was immune to and his stats.

 

Zack’s First Class statistics were mind boggling, but Sephiroth's… For a lot of his features, the notation read that there was no _scale_ to measure them, and that included intelligence too.

 

 _Aeris_ started highlighting dates for him.

 

Sephiroth’s date of birth and then the date when most of his poison immunities were recorded on his file.

 

According to the file, Sephiroth was _three years old_ , when his poison immunities were officially tested and approved.

 

“ _Aeris…_ ”

 

“I know Cloud. But there is more.” His ship sounded grim. Worried. Sad even.

 

“According to his stats, he should be immune to the pain the slave collars induce on command.”

 

A highlighted schematics appeared of the electronic bracelet both Zack and Sephiroth wore since the day he bought them.

 

“It’s partially shielded, but its design suggests its function is to measure the distance between the two devices Zack and Sephiroth wear. Should they lose contact, the needles I have detected would probably deliver a dose of whatever liquid is held inside. Considering Sephiroth’s immunity statistics, it’s virtually impossible to kill or even incapacitate him by poison. Also his stats indicate that no known slave-controlling devices that exist would be able to subdue him at all.”

 

Cloud’s gasped.

 

“Zack,” he whispered. “Sephiroth is not a slave. _Zack_ is. He follows Zack because if he decided to leave, Zack would die.”

 

It made so much sense, the sudden explosion of violence and honest killer intent where there was only careful withdrawal before. If Sephiroth really thought he’d taken advantage of Zack… Cloud was lucky to be alive, unprepared as he was at that time.

 

“It seems so,” Aeris agreed softly.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it took a long time, but the story is done now! Just being betaed. Chapter 4 and epilogue will be posted in a few hours.

Cloud panted heavily and shifted his hold on First Tsurugi. In front of him Zack was as winded as he, black spikes of his hair now plastered to his sweaty forehead. It was fun, Cloud had to admit, training with someone so evenly matched. Actually, in terms of strength, they were very evenly matched, but Cloud was definitely faster. It was now, fighting with everything he had and getting nowhere, that Cloud truly appreciated what Zack being a SOLDIER First Class meant. Cloud had a better weapon, his stamina and strength were the same, and his speed clearly superior. Cloud should have been winning those bouts every time.

 

Meantime, he was lucky to win one of every five matches.

 

What Zack lacked in sheer power he more than made up for with unconventional moves. The man wasn’t above biting, scratching, or crotch-grabbing. Anything to get the upper hand. His imagination and sheer lack of shame made him an incredibly difficult opponent. The first few bouts had left Cloud vaguely traumatised, confused, beaten, and a bit aroused. One of the most memorable things was when Cloud managed to disarm Zack, and was sure he had won already, when the other man shrugged out of his t-shirt in a single, quick move, twisting the bunched up cloth around Cloud’s sword arm, and pulling him off balance. As Cloud stumbled forward, fighting the drag of his sword now that he was unbalanced, and a vicious elbow to the head helped him along in his rushed meeting with the training room floor. It was then that Cloud learned that the buster sword in Zack Fair’s hands was just a courtesy, a warning. Just because he didn’t have a sword didn’t mean he was defeated.

 

Now, attacking low, with and underhanded swing that took the most advantage of Cloud’s size and speed, he aimed for Zack’s grip. He saw the other man’s eyes widen and the mad scramble to block. Cloud was too fast though and with a ringing screech, both swords clashed, Zack’s buster vibrating so hard it numbed Zack’s hand. Feeling the moment Zack lost grip on his sword by the sudden lack of resistance in his own, Cloud quickly let go of his own weapon and lunged for Zack, tackling him bodily. With an undignified yelp, Zack landed on his back, one hand twisted under his own body, one pinned above his head.

 

“Damn blondie,” Zack panted out, licking his dry lips. “You are fast.”

 

Cloud was grinning, drunk on victory and physical exertion.

 

“I win,” Cloud gloated just a little, shifting to put more pressure on Zack’s captured hand.

 

He didn’t expect Zack to shift with him, moving his legs so that Cloud slid neatly between them. They ended up with Cloud stretched over Zack, pressed chest to chest, hip to hip. It also made it more than obvious that Cloud was more than just a bit excited by the fighting. Zack was half-hard against him too, brazenly cradling Cloud with his thighs.

 

“So,” Zack started, stretching his torso under Cloud in a very, very shameless squirm with a wicked grin on his face. “Now that you have me on my back, what are you going to do with me?”

 

Cloud could feel the heat of the other man’s body, the scent of clean sweat and warm metal. He could feel Zack getting harder where their groins met, but all he could see was the slave collar on Zack’s neck.

 

In that moment he hated the thing more than anything in his life. He scrambled up, away from Zack, feeling almost ill at the thought that Zack would do this because he didn’t have a choice, didn’t have the luxury of saying no.

 

“Hey, Cloud, wait...” the other man called when Cloud stumbled in his haste to get away from him.

 

“I’m sorry,” Cloud murmured as he made a dash for the door, needing to get away before his stomach gave up the fight completely and introduced him to his breakfast for the second time.

 

 

*        *        *

 

 

“Come on Seph, you have to agree with me!” Zack’s voice was as cheerful as always and Cloud felt a tiny smile pull on his lips as he neared the entrance to one of the cave rooms they used as shelter in the abandoned mine. Outside the wind was howling loud enough to deafen, and Cloud, who was determined to make the patrol alone, found himself doubling back to their camp halfway through. He was starting to learn that he no longer had to do things by himself, but old habits were hard to break.

 

He couldn’t hear what Sephiroth answered, but slowed his steps anyway. Almost against his will, he stopped at the bend in the cave wall, hidden in the shadows, curious to hear what the silver-haired man would say. It was impossible to guess what the older man felt or thought, as he kept himself so strictly closed off.

 

“You have…ah, the _worst_ timing for asking questions.” Sephiroth's voice broke oddly in the middle, becoming strangely breathy.

 

Curious, Cloud tilted himself out of the shadows a bit, just to catch a glimpse of what was making the man sound quite like that.

 

The moment he caught sight of the tableau inside the cave he flushed. He’d been an idiot not to realise what was going on earlier. Instead, he was stuck staring, his face burning with a fierce flush.

 

The two men were lit by the merrily burning fire, light and shadow adding color to the unusually pale skin.

 

Sephiroth was sprawled over his bedroll, back propped against the cave wall, heavy black coat open, shirt rucked up. His legs were spread wide, and between them was Zack. The other SOLDIER was kneeling, bent forward with his head buried in Sephiroth lap.

 

As Cloud watched, Zack pulled up to look at Sephiroth. From his position Cloud couldn’t quite see Zack’s expression, but he knew the man well enough to know he was grinning like mad.

 

“I don’t know Seph, I think my timing is excellent!”

 

“Zack.” It was obvious the ex-general wanted to sound threatening, but the huskiness of his voice rather undermined the effect.

 

“Just admit the kid is okay. We managed to land a pretty cushy job, right? After all, we’ve been with him for what, three months already? And the kid hasn’t once ordered us.” From the way his body swayed, Cloud could tell Zack was jerking off Sephiroth while he talked at him. “Which is a damn shame, because I for one could go for some orders from him, if you catch my drift.” There was so, so much innuendo in Zack’s voice, Cloud flushed by proxy.

 

“Zack.” Sephiroth’s voice was tight, definitely edging into annoyance now. “ _Stop talking._ ” One pale, long-fingered hand curled into the black spikes of of Zack’s hair and pulled him down.

 

Zack had the gall to snicker again.

 

“Sir, yes, sir!” he muttered cheerfully before bending his head lower to take Sephiroth in his mouth.

 

Between the shadows cast by the flickering fire and the fact that they were both almost completely clothed, Cloud couldn’t see all that much. Just two shapes rocking together.

 

Sephiroth's hair was a banner of silver in the dark room, catching the light and reflecting it. The fine, wispy strands tended to get sticky with static energy. Zack let it slip once that Sephiroth wore all that leather Cloud saw in the pictures of his previous life, because it was easier on his hair.

 

Now Cloud could catch flickers of pale flesh where the SOLDIER’s shirt was hiked up, a perfectly muscled stomach shivering under the widely splayed palm Zack kept there. Could see the flush suffusing the usually pale face. With his eyes closed, the ex-general looked almost peaceful.

 

It was his slightly parted lips that pulled Cloud’s attention the most. They were slightly swollen, slack in the universal sign of pleasure, slightly wet, causing loose strands of silver hair to stick to them.

 

Sephiroth was completely silent when he came, just curling down towards Zack, his hand cradling Zack’s head. When he leaned back against the cave wall, his chest heaving and eyes still closed, single strands of hair sticking to his sweaty forehead and lips, Sephiroth looked like the most beautiful thing Cloud had ever seen.

 

Then he opened his eyes, the pale green shining gently in the half-darkness of the cave, and locked them straight on Cloud.

 

 

*        *        *

 

 

Zack was busy lurking behind Cloud’s shoulder and intimidating the crap out of the traders, hoping the obvious show of power would help them negotiate better prices. They had had one big success already, acquiring several power-cells for a very attractive price. Sephiroth alone with his I-am-not-amused glare perfected on dozens of SOLDIER’s was enough to get them resupplied with fresh water at half of the original asking price.

 

Like all the other planets in Shinra-controlled space, this one also had adopted slavery. Zack knew that their shopping would eventually take them into the market proper. Where there was a market, there were slave traders.

 

Different planets assimilated the slave culture introduced by Shinra differently. Ironically Midgard, one of the oldest and a capital Shinra planet, hadn’t really taken to the slave trade, liked to keep it as far away from themselves as possible. Zack spent the first half of his life on Gongaga, a planet as free as he himself was. No slave trade there at all. Then he was in Midgard which only had slaves nominally, and nothing as extreme as he and Sephiroth were subjected to after their decommissioning.

 

Gold Saucer, though, seemed to have taken to slaves as a fish to water. Considering that just thirty years ago slavery hadn’t even existed as a concept, there were an awful lot of slaves visible currently. In the docks where they landed, they saw many hollow-eyed and tired people with shock collars around their necks. The same were found on the streets, operating loud cleaning equipment, in shops, cleaning floors and merchandise.

 

It wasn’t the work they did that was raising Zack’s hackles. It wasn’t even the shock collars, although he knew just what that relatively small device could do.

 

It was the scars and scabs, the obvious signs of abuse.

 

It was clear that slaves were treated here with cruelty, as less than human. Cloud was even quieter than usual, which was a feat in itself, and Zack didn’t even dare to look at Sephiroth. His commander had improved so much these last few months. He was talking again, was engaging with his surroundings, hell, he even looked Cloud in the eye instead of the careful, blank avoidance of before. Franky, the kind of depression Sephiroth had slid into was scaring the piss out of Zack. Even unarmed and brought low as a slave, Zack was more than aware of the kind of power his friend was capable of, the sheer potential for destruction was kind of mind-shattering. It was always in the back of his mind that Sephiroth was balancing on the edge of insanity, the strain of slavery too much for the proud man. Cloud was a fucking miracle. As unwilling to own slaves as they were to be slaves, he gave Seph enough space and stability for the older man to pull himself together. In the recent weeks Sephiroth even allowed himself to be interested in sex again, even if Zack was the one to initiate every encounter.

 

They had landed on Gold Saucer just a few hours ago, and Zack could feel how it was chipping away at his friend’s sanity.

 

When they finally hit the market proper, forced to go there for perishable supplies, they saw people locked in pens like animals. People in cages or shackled to wooden poles. Men dressed in rags, scarred and empty-eyed. Women naked and so very, very young. Zack was ashamed then, that he couldn’t even meet their eyes.

 

He was so focused on not looking, on ignoring the desperate cries, the occasional crack of a whip or a belt, that it actually took him a moment to realise that they were missing their third.

 

“Cloud,” he called quietly, turning around and scanning the crowd for Sephiroth.

 

For a brief, heart-stopping moment he couldn’t see him at all.

 

Then the crowd shifted and Zack’s heart started again.

 

Sephiroth stood still as a statue, his head turned sharply to the left. His intimidating build and the long dark coat, buttoned up even in this heat caused the crowds of people to part around him. Even with the obvious slave collar on his neck, no one dared to jostle the man.

 

There was something almost eerie about Sephiroth’s stillness. He seemed carved from stone, the only thing moving was his hair, loose strands swaying gently in the sluggishly moving desert air.

 

“Seph?” Zack called when he was closer. He was aware of Cloud following him, but all of his attention was on his general. If Sephiroth snapped in the middle of such a crowded place…

 

The older man didn’t respond, didn’t even twitch a muscle. His eyes were open and unblinking, the always elongated pupils now slitted into barely visible slivers, making him look even more alien than usual.

 

Zack followed Sephiroth’s gaze but couldn’t catch what was keeping the man so transfixed. Zack’s eyesight was theoretically as good as Sephiroth’s, but from what Seph let slip over the years, Zack knew the man had been born with enhancements. It didn’t seem as such a difference at first, but over time, Zack realised just how big a difference it actually was.

 

Sephiroth used his senses differently than other SOLDIERs. Having spent half his life un-enhanced, Zack used his senses like everybody else: sight was sight, smell was smell, occasionally mingling with taste. Hearing was hearing. For Sephiroth, it wasn’t the same; he could cast his focus to follow a scent, or a sound and his eyesight adjusted accordingly, allowing him to spot small details at distances or around corners impossible for anyone else to sense.

 

Zack had to actually, physically follow Sephiroth’s line of sight, hoping to catch what had rooted the man in place. He was far enough that the ever-present throng of buyers cut in between Seph and him, making the other man invisible. It was the sound that Zack caught first.

 

Sharp crack of a whip and then the wet, nausea-inducing sound of flesh being broken and blood spilling. He followed the sound, pushing people away to make way until he saw another slave pen. Only this one had a bigger crowd around it than usual.

 

In the middle, there were two metal poles driven deep into the earth. High up on each there were electromagnetic restraints attached. Between the poles, with his arms stretched so wide to the side and at an angle that resulted in one, or even two dislocated shoulders was suspended a man. His head was shaved, his body naked but for something that looked like a loincloth. His back was a ruin, deep gauges breaking skin and muscles, leaking blood and yellowish fluid indicating infection. His ribs were standing out sharply, indicating the lack of proper nutrition, and he stank so bad, Zack could smell it from where he stood.

 

All this didn’t detract from the fact that he knew that frame. Zack didn’t need to circle around to see the man’s face to recognize him.

 

“Kunsel,” he breathed, his stomach clenching in horrified grief.

 

“You know him?” The softly asked question made him jump.

 

Cloud was beside him, his eyes shadowed and sad as he looked at the torture taking place in front of them.

 

“He’s a friend. We…,” his voice broke in the middle and Zack had to swallow twice to get it back. “We did a lot of missions together.”

 

He wanted to beg Cloud to buy Kunsel if it was at all possible, to demand it, but he had worked closely enough with Cloud these last few months to know that the blond didn’t have that kind of money. Whatever he had squirreled away before, he’d spent buying Sephiroth and Zack. After that, most of the extra money went into clothes and equipment, into food needed to feed three enhanced men. They were barely managing to make the ends meet, so there was no way they could afford to not only buy Kunsel, but also the medical supplies needed to keep him from dying, especially since they didn’t have any materia.

 

He bit his tongue nearly in half to stop himself from begging.

 

“Wait here.”

 

Zack whipped his head around to stare at Cloud, but the blond was already jumping onto the platform and heading for the burly man wielding the whip, which splattered blood and other matter around.

 

He wanted to do something, follow Cloud, possibly murder the bastard torturing his friend to death on a fucking stage, but a strong hand around his wrist stopped him. When he looked to the side, he saw Sephiroth. his face looked almost eerily calm, still. He looked at the dias, still as a stature, only the hand closed rightly around Zack’s wrist, betraying his tension.

 

Zack turned his arm, sliding his palm against Sephiroth’s in a mute question, and Sephiroth twisted their fingers together, offering what little comfort he could.

 

 

*        *        *

 

 

 _Four hours_.

 

That’s how much time they had to get the money, after that the SOLDIER would be executed for disobedience.

 

Cloud had no idea how to get the money. In a way he regretted even trying to buy out that man because now he had to stand in front of Zack and Sephiroth and tell them there was a chance to save their friend, but he couldn’t do it.

 

The last thing he expected was Sephiroth grabbing his wrist and starting to tow him through the crowd of people on the market.

 

“What…” he protested, half heartedly trying to tug his arm free.

 

The touch of that wide hand, the strong yet very careful grip was distracting Cloud from voicing his protest. It occurred to him then that Sephiroth hadn’t touched him even once for the last few months, ever since that violent encounter in the corridor in front of Zack’s quarters. It confused Cloud, his own reaction to the touch, the unexpected closeness.

 

He looked up from staring at the pale hand to the man towing him, and was met mostly with a mass of silver. If he was honest, Sephiroth’s hair was haunting him. It looked incredibly fine and soft, single strands of it floating everywhere but always managed to stay glossy and smooth. Every time Cloud saw the silver strands escaping the main mass and floating around to catch on everything in range, he had the wildest urge to tuck them in. He never acted on it though, having trouble imagining what would Sephiroth’s reaction would be.

 

It took Sephiroth stopping suddenly for Cloud to regain the sense of his surroundings. Flushing, he looked around him and blinked at the large metal door crowned with a huge, flashing sign “Arena”.

 

“Monster fights?” Cloud asked bewildered. “But we don’t have any monsters.”

 

The silver haired man snorted gently.

 

“We have me,” Sephiroth said, starting to unbutton his coat.

 

A little confused but catching on fast and really, really not liking what he was coming up with, Cloud turned to Zack.

 

“Are you sure?” Zack asked, a crease between his brows. “It’s going to be awfully tight, and we don’t really have any weapons but the busters, and those are useless in close quarters.”

 

Cloud was going to do something terrible to those two, who were obviously planning something over his head.

 

“Make them put me with the worst ones. Unarmed. The odds will be better that way.”

 

“Are you talking about gambling?” Cloud interjected, disapproval dripping from his voice. His mama always taught him to be careful with his money, and he’d never understood the lure of gambling.

 

“Gambling?” Zack snorted, a grin stretching his lips. “Not with Seph down in the cage.” He clapped one hand on Cloud’s shoulder. “Come on Spike, time to talk our way into the questionably legal fight ring.” He looked at Cloud and then at the throng of sweaty, drunk and screaming people inside the building. “Right. I will do the talking, you be quiet and look mean, okay?”

 

Cloud couldn’t say anything about mean, but he had a feeling he could definitely do pissed off.

 

*        *        *

 

Cloud wasn’t sure if he was more impressed, baffled, or just traumatised by the whole thing. Somehow he wasn’t sure what exactly happened, but Zack managed to either convince the owners of this place that Cloud was some kind of all-powerful, shadowy ruler of the galaxy, or very sick in the head. Either way, he was sure of two things: Sephiroth would fight three of the biggest monsters they had at the same time, and Cloud was not coming back to Gold Saucer. Ever.

 

They found Sephiroth near the low metal barrier ringing the huge sunken pit. His coat was folded over one of his arms, the standard thermal shirt used by everyone who traveled shimmering in the flashing fluorescent lights. Cloud spent a happy half minute just watching the stretch of the black fabric over wide shoulders and picture perfect biceps.

 

When the object of his scrutiny saw them, he raised an eyebrow in question.

 

“Yep!” Zack shouted out. “You are our official sacrificial lamb today!”

 

Cloud turned to shoot Zack a nasty look. Nobody was going to be a sacrificial anything. Zack only grinned wider.

 

Sephiroth said nothing. He was busy pulling off his shirt. Cloud wanted to ask him if he was sure, if he really wanted to fight three monsters which looked like mutated ants with mandibles the size of an arm. The deal was for Sephiroth to fight without weapons, and while those monsters were manageable with a proper weapon, Cloud had no idea how in hell Sephiroth was supposed to do it weaponless.

 

But this was their friend’s life they were fighting for here, and Cloud didn’t have the heart to tell the man to stop.

 

Sephiroth cast him an odd, searching glance. For a moment Cloud had the insane idea the older man was actually asking permission, but that was clearly insane. The moment passed and the silver haired man grabbed the bottom of his thermal shirt to pull of off in one quick, fluid movement.

 

Cloud wasn’t aware of Zack’s surprised stare boring into the back of his head, dark eyes wide with shock. All he could do was stare stupidly at the muscular chest now revealed in front of him.

 

“Um…” He started, but at the same time lost his courage. He didn’t expect Sephiroth to turn towards him, pale eyes focusing on him with intent.

 

Ashamed of the inanity of the gesture, Cloud still managed to reach into his pocket and give Sephiroth what he’d picked up hours earlier when Zack wasn’t looking, but hadn’t had the courage to give to the man.

 

On his open palm rested a pale blue scrunchie.

 

Sephiroth looked at the scrunchie. Then he looked at Cloud, and down again.

 

Cloud flushed from the tips of his ears to his neck.

 

Just when Cloud was going to stammer out some kind of apology, Sephiroth reached out and carefully picked up the hairband, his fingers barely brushing Cloud’s palm.

 

He furrowed his brow as he tested the stretch on his fingers before reaching up and gathering his hair into a low tail. He then proceeded to twist his hair up again, into something that looked like a loose bun, thin strands floating everywhere, framing his neck and resting on his shoulder.

 

Cloud couldn’t tear his eyes away, and neither could Zack beside him. The dark haired SOLDIER was wearing an expression of baffled lust, much like Cloud suspected he was wearing himself.

 

Sephiroth didn’t look at Zack or him again, but there was a curious upturn to his lips before he took hold of the railing and in one powerful move, swung himself over and down into the pit, landing lightly in a crouch on the sandy floor.

 

“Fuck Cloud, you are a miracle worker,” he heard Zack say.

 

It confused him, but he couldn’t tear his attention from Sephiroth long enough to ask what the other man meant.

 

Cloud was aware of the announcer pumping up the crowd, but he wasn’t actively listening to the man. When the gong sounded, he almost jumped.

 

In the middle of the sandy pit a trapdoor opened. Out of the darkness came a monster straight out of nightmares. It looked almost like an ant, if ants were ten times bigger than a human. It was dark grey, its armor plating looked as if nothing short of a laser cutter would pierce it. It had eight pairs of legs, each ending in in a sharp, also armored spike. It was the mandibles that pulled all of Cloud’s attention though. They were as long as his arm, serrated on the inside and gleaming with something oily and no doubt poisonous.

 

After the first one, two more scrambled out from the dungeons before the trapdoor closed again.

 

Sephiroth backed up, closer to the pit’s wall and was turning to keep all three of the monsters in sight. Cloud couldn’t read his face, didn’t know what the man was thinking, if he was afraid at all. From where he stood, all he could see were three ridiculously huge monsters and one unarmed man. It looked like a recipe for disaster, and Cloud cursed himself for letting it happen at all.

 

He jumped again, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned a little, trying to catch a glimpse of Zack without taking his eyes from Sephiroth.

 

“Calm down, Cloud. Seph can take them down. I promise.”

 

Cloud wanted to believe Zack, he really did. Sephiroth and Zack were both SOLDIER First Class; the whole known universe knew how dangerous those could be, but still…

 

“The bigger one in the middle,” Zack said, coming to lean against the railing beside Cloud. “That’s the alpha. See how the other two react just a bit later than it does? They obviously follow its lead.”

 

Now that Zack pointed it out, he did see, the way the other two formed around the middle creature. Cloud also saw that Sephiroth was slowly turning to keep the alpha facing him. Suddenly, without any warning Sephiroth exploded into movement, incredibly fast he ran straight at the alpha. The creature reared up, making the oddest dry screeching sound. Sephiroth, impossibly gave another burst of speed and suddenly lunged. Not at the creature, as Cloud expected, but below it, between its legs.

 

It was chaos. The alpha started jumping and turning, obviously trying to locate Sephiroth beneath him, the other two were also moving in an uncoordinated, agitated manner, bumping into the walls of the pit and into each other. Suddenly the monster on the right screeched and stumbled. From between its legs Sephiroth rolled out. In an incredible show of agility, he rolled straight into a standing position. Without a stumble, he changed the momentum into a smooth run. Reaching the concrete wall of the pit, Sephiroth slammed one foot onto it, using it as a springboard and reversed his direction, launching himself back at the monster closest to him. Again he used the difference in height to roll under the beast. Expecting the move, Cloud was able to follow Sephiroth with his eyes and see how the man delivered a sharp kick to one of the creatures back legs.

 

Sephiroth spun between the wildly stomping legs and came out on the other side, a long bloody gash in his side. He repeated the same maneuver from before, reaching the pit’s wall and using it to spring back into the fray. Each time he attacked the same joint on the same monster. Each time he exited the fray at a point that allowed him to almost seamlessly repeat the move. Cloud realized he was planning his entrance and exit points so that he caused the most confusion and, most importantly, kept the creatures grouped tightly.

 

The building confusion and anger caused the creatures to lash out not only at the incredibly fast-moving Sephiroth but also at each other. The alpha delivered more than one tearing bite from his huge mandibles to both of the subordinate monsters, tearing through the heavy armor as if it was paper.

 

On another pass, the already-wounded monster screeched horribly and skittered away from the fray, trailing green fluid from the joint where its leg was severed. On the ground, standing in a defensive position was Sephiroth, holding the armored appendage as if it was a weapon.

 

As terrifying as the monsters were, they were still just animals. When Sephiroth faked an attack at the alpha, it rose up, screeching in an instinctive effort to intimidate its opponent. Sephiroth has obviously noticed how the alpha always rose up on four of its legs when attacked and had obviously planned for it. When it started to fall down onto the rest of its legs, Sephiroth switched his hold on the severed leg, holding it pointy-side-up, and rushed the monster, running under its body and wedging the severed leg between the ground and the armored belly.

 

The crack when the armored plates broke was deafening. The crowd went insane, screaming and stomping when the first monster fell twitching to the ground, obviously dying.

 

Sephiroth was breathing hard, his chest visibly heaving on every breath, and more strands of hair had shaken free from his impromptu bun. He was dirty from rolling on the ground so many times. On his left side there was a bloody gash. It wasn’t bleeding too badly so probably wasn’t too serious, but made something in Cloud’s gut go heavy and cold. There were still two more monsters to defeat.

 

The one missing a leg was also bleeding from other places, wounds caused by the alpha when they’d all been herded together.

 

Sephiroth was on the move again, weaving between the healthy one’s legs with agility almost unseen in someone of his size, and went for the wounded one. With a single, unbelievable leap, he vaulted onto the wounded one’s back. He used one hand to grip a ridge of armored plate for stability, curled the other one into a fist, and started hitting the plates already weakened by the alpha’s bite. The monster thrashed and turned, frantically trying to shake him off. On the third blow the armor gave, and Sephiroth’s arm went in up to the elbow. He jerked his arm out, flinging away something wet and squishy, his whole arm covered in gore. The monster under him didn’t even make a sound as it crashed to the ground, dead.

 

Sephiroth had to jump away from the corpse and run away from the third monster that had obviously decided that Sephiroth was too dangerous to be left alone with, and went after the man with a vengeance.

 

The third didn’t last long after that. Sephiroth managed to scrape out even more speed than before, form almost blurring. If he hadn’t been shirtless and weaponless, Cloud would swear he had to have been Haste equipped.

 

He managed to turn the creature around, again roll under it, creating another wound to its thorax, this one bisecting both its pectorals, before sprinting towards the fallen alpha. Using his momentum, Sephiroth slammed his foot on the mandibles of the alpha and with a crack, managed to separate one of the chitin blades. He snatched it up and turned, just in time to meet the oncoming monster.

 

In a breathtaking show of strength, he caught the creature's jaw and forced it up, muscles straining, as he shifted his hold on the broken mandible, slamming it in up, straight through the creature’s jaw and brain. The weapon exited through the top of the beast’s head.

 

The creature fell with with a crash, doubly loud in the suddenly silent building.

 

For a heartbeat it was quiet around them, and then all hell broke loose. Over the overwhelming din, Cloud couldn’t even hear his own thoughts, much less anything else. When Sephiroth raised his head and locked his pale eyes with Cloud, fierce and proud, Cloud stopped paying attention to the crowd anyway.


	4. Chapter 4

Cloud cursed as his fingers slipped on the snow covered rock. Alfheim was a frozen planet, full of rocks, snow, and frozen, ancient oceans. The weather was harsh enough that even with the best gear, only enhanced humans dared to visit this place. Between the winds that threatened to steal body warmth in minutes, the heavy snowfall that reduced visibility to almost nothing, and ground covered in thousand-year-old ice, it was a challenge to simply survive. 

After managing to buy Kunsel at that Gold Saucer market, the truth was they were all but broke. Kunsel required so much medical help, they used up all of their supplies on the man. Sephiroth refused treatment, claiming he would heal on his own anyway, and Kunsel was fighting for his life. Now, three months later, the man was on his feet, if barely, stubbornly insisting that he was well enough to _work_.

Cloud never knew what Sephiroth and Zack said to Kunsel, but there was a certain way the man treated Cloud now that made the blond uncomfortable. He was gruff but nice in his way, respectful. Cloud wasn’t sure how to act around him, how to not look at the scars even the skin regenerators hadn’t managed to erase. Right now, Kunsel was on board the ship, acting as their Communication Officer. It did make Cloud feel better, knowing that _Aeris_ wasn’t alone out there. 

Due to the fact that they’d exhausted all of their medical supplies and were also using up their food at a double rate, the usual deliveries were not paying the bills any longer. To make the ends meet, Cloud started to take other jobs. This was how he’d landed on Alfheim, but instead of searching the mountains for natural materia, he was hanging by his fingertips on a frozen cliff face, slowly slipping. In another few minutes he would probably lose all traction and fall into the frozen ocean below. 

They’d been walking the ledge which led to a cave system they’d wanted to explore when the weather took a turn for the worse. The cold wind and snow they could deal with, even if Zack complained he couldn’t feel his hands any more, when the clouds overhead became darker. In moments, what had just been foul weather turned into a hellish storm with lightning hitting the rocks underneath them. It was like something from a fairytale, as if the Gods were raining death and destruction from the skies.

A bolt of lightning had struck the ledge right below Cloud and the rocks shattered, causing him to fall. For a moment he thought he would be saved, his hands caught something and held, halting his fall. But the rock was already crumbling under his fingers and the wind was too harsh for his calls of help to be heard.

When the last of the rock crumbled, plunging Cloud down, he had the weirdest thought that Sephiroth, Zack, and Kunsel would be okay. _Aeris_ had a secondary subroutine to accept them as her crew, should something happen to Cloud.

The impact of the water was like hitting a concrete wall at a hundred miles per hour. As strong as his Nibleheim-bred body was, he could feel it shatter. He didn’t even feel the cold when the water closed over his head.

* * *

He woke up suddenly, jerking into consciousness with a panicked clench of muscles.

“Whoa, hey, calm down, Cloud. You are safe. We got you out, okay? So just calm down.”

It took him a moment to get his bearings, to push the panic down. His chest hurt, his lungs burned, and there was an odd, salty taste in his mouth. It didn't take a genius to understand that he’d drowned.

It didn’t explain why he was alive at all, why while achy, his body seemed fully functional. 

“How..” he managed to croak out.

“We jumped in after you.” The low voice of Sephiroth came from behind him. As in _right_ behind him.

Cloud thought about how cold the water had to have been, how the fall had hurt so much he’d instantly lost consciousness. 

“On the bright side, you managed to find the materia!” Zack chirped in.

Cloud was starting to realise that he was warm. Very warm, actually. With effort he opened his eyes and blinked until he could focus.

Zack was inches from him, his hair even more impossible than usual. Cloud trailed his eyes from his friend’s face, lower to his exposed neck. He wondered why wasn’t Zack wearing his parka. Then he saw naked collarbones.

Everything became clear in an instant. He realised he was in a cave, lying down and sandwiched between Sephiroth and Zack, all of them cocooned in the light space blanket. Also, all of them were naked.

Cloud could feel his face _burning_.

“Heh,” Zack snickered, watching him closely. “You okay there, Spike? Because I have to admit, I have never seen someone flush quite this bad before.” 

Zack was _not_ helping.

“We found a Heal materia on the bottom of the bay when we dived in to pull you out. There are more there, but I didn’t want to risk it without equipment again.” Sephiroth's voice came from behind him. This time Cloud was aware of the fact that Sephiroth was naked, of the movement of the powerful chest and the low vibration of the man’s voice. “Even with our enhancements, hypothermia was already setting in.”

“Yeah, not to mention you scared the hell out of us. You were dead, Spike! We think it’s only the cold of the water that saved you.”

Cloud had trouble thinking straight, but even in this state he was sure it wasn’t the cold but the loyalty (and proximity) of the two insanely brave men who’d saved him. 

“We would appreciate it if you refrained from falling from any more cliffs.”

Zack nodded, his hair flopping every which way.

“Yeah, what he said.”

Sephiroth shifted behind him, a long undulation of muscles stretched over taut skin that Cloud could feel all along his back. He also realized Sephiroth had an arm over his waist, obviously holding him in place. 

Sephiroth’s movement forced Cloud to shift as well, and his legs tangled between warm, naked legs tucked between his own. Zack’s legs.

That was too much. The attraction he’d fought tooth and nail for months surged up and he was suddenly, blindingly hard. For a moment, he thought nobody would notice or mention it, but it was a stupid hope. Zack was pressed chest to chest with him, Cloud’s cock was pressed into Zack’s belly. A very hard and warm belly.

The other man was close enough that Cloud could see how his eyes widened with surprise, and then with wicked glee, as he rolled his body to press against Cloud and deliver some rather fantastic friction, making him gasp.

Cloud couldn’t see Sephiroth, but the way the other man’s attention sharpened was almost palpable, making Cloud even harder. As close at they were, Cloud saw Zack’s gaze flicker up towards Sephiroth and back. Cloud cursed Zack’s perceptiveness. Of course he’d noticed, because Cloud’s life wasn’t complete without that little bit more humiliation.

“Heh, and I was starting to worry my radar was malfunctioning.” Zack murmured while leaning in, obviously angling for a kiss.

Cloud panicked and started struggling. He didn’t get far, Sephiroth’s arm like a steel band around his belly.

“Cloud.” The ex-general’s voice was calm, sure, demanding for cloud to stop and _listen_.

“I can’t.” Cloud stuttered miserably.

Zack raised himself on his arms, hovering over Cloud, giving him more room without actually leaving their warm cocoon.

“Why?” Zack asked, surprisingly gently.

Cloud took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, letting some of the tension bleed out of him. He raised his hand to Zack’s shoulder, hesitant to touch the naked flesh there. Eventually he let his hand connect with the warm, bronzed skin, and slid it up to Zack’s neck. 

To the slave collar fixed there.

Zack’s eyes softened and he smiled, a small, gentle smile.

“Trust me a little, Cloud.”

Eventually everything came down to trust. Zack’s trust that Cloud wouldn’t take advantage of him. Cloud’s trust that Zack really knew what he was doing. The truth was Cloud couldn’t imagine life without these two people. In those last few months, Zack had become the best friend he’d never had, and Sephiroth was… Cloud had no idea what the man was to him, only that it was rare and precious and needed to be protected at all costs. 

Cloud said nothing, afraid that this whole thing was his fault, that they’d picked up on his desire, and were doing this to ingratiate themselves with him. He could feel Sephiroth’s hand on his hip, resting gently, no longer restraining.

When Zack leaned down into a kiss, Cloud did nothing to stop him. 

The first kiss was gentle and playful, inviting him to join, rather than powerful, very much like the man himself. 

It only escalated from there. The gentle kiss turned into a dirty make-out session with hands roaming his body shamelessly. Hesitantly, Cloud explored the flesh offered to him. The powerful back marred with just a few scars, the sides with muscles rippling with every shift. 

Sephiroth was quiet behind him, but not cold. Cloud could hear his breaths just behind his ear, slow but getting deeper. It stroked the fire in his belly that much higher, hearing Sephiroth react, feeling the body behind him get hotter. 

It surprised him, when it was Sephiroth who handed Zack the little bottle of oil they used to keep up their weapons. It was the ex-general that pulled Cloud into a kiss when he felt the first touch of slick fingers between his legs.

His kiss was different from Zack’s. Powerful and hungry, it stripped Cloud of any ability to resist, made him simply whimper and submit to the easy mastery Sephiroth had over him.

“Heh, I might have forgotten to mention Seph is kinda bossy in bed,” Zack murmured as he poured an obscene amount of oil all over Cloud’s navel, his cock, his balls, his thighs…making everything slick. Sephiroth never stopped kissing him, even when Zack pushed first one, then two fingers inside. He moved them in easy, sure ways as if Cloud’s body was just made for him. As if there was no other way than submitting to Zack. “But it’s not like you mind, right Cloud?” Zack murmured, twisting his fingers.

Everything was slippery. Zack used so much of the oil, smearing it everywhere. On Cloud’s cock, on his balls, sliding over his thighs and fairly dripping out of his ass. The dark haired man kept pushing his fingers in, caressing Cloud’s prostate mercilessly while he used the other hand to smear the oil around. There was so much of it, everything slick and wet, which made Cloud’s face burn even more. His cock was hard, laying on his stomach and oozing precome, just adding to the ever-present wetness. Behind him, Sephiroth was a wall of hard muscles and strong hands, offering support and stroking his flank in long, slow motions.

Sephiroth slid one of those hands over Cloud’s stomach, his wide palm curling briefly around Cloud’s flushed cock, giving it a curious, too-light stroke, before sliding lower to cradle his balls. The ex-general slid his hand over the slippery skin, caressing and simply touching, before pressing his fingers into Cloud’s perineum and massaging firmly just over his prostate, making the blond gasp and arch in his hold.

Just when Cloud though he was going to either go insane or actually come from the stimulation, Sephiroth stopped and slid his hand between the blond’s legs. He touched Zack’s fingers, still working to stretch the tight little opening, pushing a single finger alongside Zack’s.

Cloud made a choked sound and pushed his head back into Sephiroth’s shoulder. His hands flailed, looking for something to hold on to, before locking on Sephiroth’s forearms. The corded muscles stretched over thick bone felt as unyielding and strong as he could ever imagine. Cloud could even feel the small movements of the tendon as Sephiroth moved his finger inside him.

“I think you are just about ready for Zack, aren’t you?” the Ex-general murmured into his ear, the hot breath fanning over Cloud’s hot and flushed skin.

He could feel and hear Zack pulling his fingers out with a slight squelch, even more of the outrageous amount of oil Zack managed to push into Cloud, leaking out with the retreat. Sephiroth stayed longer, his finger curling up to find Cloud’s prostate and torture it a little more before he too pulled out of Cloud. He didn’t stop touching the blond there though, just spread his fingers and pulled the firm cheeks even further apart, using his other hand to pull Cloud’s leg up and to the side, exposing him indecently to Zack’s gaze.

Zack’s eyes were all pupil, face flushed and he was panting hard, his chest expanding with every fast breath. Cloud dragged his eyes down that beautiful chest to the hard stomach and then lower to the thick cock jutting out proudly from the thatch of dark hair.

Zack was a little thicker than Cloud, but mostly the same size. It was remarkable how suddenly that cock looked intimidatingly big when Zack was taking it in hand and pressing the head firmly to Cloud’s entrance.

Cloud exhaled as Zack started to push, forcing himself to relax. He’d kind of never actually had done this with anyone, but since the topic hadn’t come up, Cloud didn’t feel the need to say anything earlier. Maybe he should have.

The head pushing in hurt like hell. Dimly Cloud was aware that was because he was tensing up. He couldn’t breathe and he clamped down on what little Zack managed to push in, as though his body wanted to crush it into nonexistence.

Zack cursed, one hand clenched on Cloud’s hip, the other on his thigh.

“Seph, some help here,” the SOLDIER managed through clenched teeth, frozen mid-motion.

“Cloud.” Sephiroth’s voice was like a punch to the gut. it was low, deep and cutting right into Cloud’s mind, pushing everything else aside. “Let him in.”

Cloud could feel the strong, pale hands sliding up his chest to his peaked nipples. Sephiroth rubbed them gently for a brief moment before he caught each one between thumb and forefinger and started squeezing. It felt good at first, but the man kept increasing the pressure until pleasure turned into dull pain. Cloud gasped and arched, but Sephiroth's hands were like steel, unyielding and unmoved by Cloud’s thrashing. The dull ache turned into burning pain, making Cloud give a sharp cry, arching his back as much as possible to escape the pain. Cloud had no idea how long it lasted, seconds or minutes, when suddenly Sephiroth switched from the painful pinch into gentle rubbing. The cessation of pain sent a heady rush of endorphins, making Cloud’s head spin and his body slack in the sudden absence of pain. As he sagged in Sephiroth’s hold, his muscles unclenching all at once, Zack used that moment to push all the way in, bottoming out inside Cloud, and pushing the breath right out of him again.

Panting and stunned, all Cloud could do was lie sandwiched between the two men and just feel. The stretch of his muscles pulled tightly around Zack’s rigid length, the heat of the man inside him, the weight of the cock. Cloud could swear he could feel it pulse in tandem with Zack’s elevated heartbeat.

When Sephiroth's hand slid lower again to close firmly over his cock, Cloud realised that he hadn’t lost his erection even for a moment. Between Zack’s steady slow thrusts which dragged his cock over Cloud’s prostate on every pass, and the firm strokes of Sephiroth's hand, Cloud was almost insensate with stimulation.

And even though doing it for the first time, Cloud could already tell he loved it. Loved the stretch, the feeling of intimacy and closeness. Loved the invasion into his body, adored the sounds Zack made with every thrust, even liked the smell of sweat and precome that surrounded them.

The tension inside him crested suddenly, making him come in long, heavy spurts. Cloud’s mind blanked out, pleasure swamping all rational thought. When he came to, it was to Zack kissing him fiercely, one of Cloud’s hands threaded into that wild black hair. He regained enough control over his body to open his mouth to allow Zack to do what he wanted. Cloud pulled the man closer, wordlessly encouraging him to continue. With a breathy call of Cloud’s name, Zack let go of his chivalry and started pumping his hips in quick, sharp moves that pushed him closer towards his own orgasm.

Zack was beautiful when he came. His face slack with pleasure, muscles standing out in sharp relief. Since Cloud was already coming down from his own orgasm, he had the presence of mind to focus on his body, on the way he felt Zack's cock jerk inside him that final time, and the rush of heat that followed. 

Zack’s come.

Cloud blushed and kissed the dark-haired man again, his chest feeling oddly tight. Zack kissed back, lazy and sloppy, sprawled over over Cloud, in no hurry to separate their bodies. 

Cloud would have been happy to just lie there and lazily kiss, but he couldn’t stop noticing the man behind him, body tensed and cock drawing a line of heat against Cloud’s back. 

Sephiroth was rubbing his sides in a calming manner, not demanding anything.

It didn’t matter just how over sensitive or exhausted Cloud’s body was, he couldn’t fathom not having Sephiroth inside him. He turned from Zack and twisted, so that he could kiss the silver-haired man. The kiss betrayed Sephiroth’s arousal even more than his cock did. It immediately turned deep, predatory, and all consuming, the hands that were gently stroking Cloud just moments before were now gripping his body tightly and pulling it against the older man.

Cloud flailed a bit, whimpering, when he felt Zack pull out of him, slipping out on all the oil he’d forced inside. Everything was wet and slippery down there, loose in a way that made Cloud blush again. His blush only deepened when Sephiroth slid his hand between Cloud legs and pushed two fingers into the blonde’s abused hole. They went in easily.

“Are you sure, Cloud?” Sephiroth asked, dragging his lips over the sweaty skin on Cloud’s neck. “I’m bigger, it might hurt.”

“Yes.” Cloud couldn’t even recognize his own voice, it was so hoarse and needy.

There was a confusion of arms and legs for a moment and when Cloud had his breath back, Zack and Sephiroth had switched places, neatly passing Cloud between them so that the blond was resting against Zack’s more compact body and Sephiroth was looming over him on hands and knees. It was a testament to how well those two worked together that the switch was so seamless.

Cloud stared.

Deep inside he admitted he saw the two men differently. Both were attractive but in different ways. Zack was the friend he’d never had, almost a brain twin. He was fun and they’d found an easy camaraderie. Cloud couldn't imagine a life without Zack any more, without his freely-given support, the teasing sense of humor, and hare-brained ideas.

Sephiroth was a completely different kettle of fish. Cloud was shy around him, he admitted that freely. The man intimidated him in some strange kind of way, but at the same time, Cloud just couldn’t tear his eyes away from him. There was a quiet sense of power in him that made Cloud’s heart skip a beat every time he looked at the man. While with Zack, Cloud was all for giving as good as he got, with Sephiroth, Cloud not only expected the man to dominate, he _wanted_ it. It felt right, felt good, to let his legs fall apart to accept the man, to let himself submit. It felt good.

Sephiroth was a quiet man, his arousal betrayed only by the slightly quickened breathing, the light flush on his cheeks, and most of all by the formidable erection. Cloud slid his eyes down the incredibly wide shoulders, muscles that put even Zack to shame, pectorals so defined Cloud felt he could cut himself on the ridges and rippled stomach. A curtain of silver hair fell around them, closing them in a little pocket of heat and desire. There was almost no hair on his body, just acres of smooth, pale skin. Lower, his cock stood out heavy and proud. Cloud swallowed. Feeling it against his back was one thing but seeing it was something else altogether. 

Logically he knew it was probably perfectly proportional to the man. However, Sephiroth was ridiculously big. Tall and wide in the shoulders, he towered over both Zack and himself. It didn’t change the fact that he looked…huge, especially compared to Cloud’s already softening member. Cloud was almost certain Sephiroth wouldn’t fit inside him, that he’d tear him apart, but he was hell-bent on trying anyway.

Sephiroth bent down over him, sliding his cheek and jaw over Cloud’s face, almost like a cat rubbing its scent over its human. “Ready, Cloud?” he murmured, nipping gently at Cloud’s ear.

Cloud could feel his heartbeat stutter. It was ridiculous just how much this man affected him.

“Yes.” The word wasn’t much more than a whimper, but it was clear enough.

He didn’t expect to feel Zack’s hands under his thighs. He blushed furiously when Zack pulled his thighs up and apart, exposing him in the most filthy way imaginable. They were a seamless team and this time, they teamed up with Cloud.

Sephiroth managed to find the almost empty bottle of oil and spread a generous amount over his cock. Cloud couldn’t help but stare, his mouth dry as the older man fit himself between his widely spread thighs and positioned the head of his cock at Cloud’s entrance. 

The pale eyes with pupils dilated into soft ovals, locked on Cloud’s, as Sephiroth started to push in.

Everything was so slick, Sephiroth moved forward inside him, Cloud wanting it or no. The cock spread Cloud open almost painfully, but unlike with Zack, the stretch didn’t end. it just went on and on, reaching deeper, forcing Cloud to accept more of that unyielding length. At first he held his breath, waiting for the stretch to ease, but when it didn’t, he exhaled explosively, barely masking a whimper. It took an eternity for Sephiroth to be seated in all the way, and Cloud was panting as if he’d run a marathon by the time he had. He was unable to speak, unable to move, just lie there and _feel_ that huge intrusion inside him. The fact that he’d already come was just exacerbating the matter, making Cloud’s body all the more oversensitive. Or maybe it was just the lessening of the lust hazing out his mind that allowed Cloud to truly feel the size of the thing shoved inside him. 

Above him, Sephiroth was trembling slightly and it reminded Cloud just how long the man had waited, how long we’d been hard with no relief. Cloud tried to move, but all he managed was a weak squirm and a moan. It seemed invitation enough though, because Sephiroth started moving, and Clud all but blacked out for a moment. Vaguely he was aware of making emabarring sounds after each, deep thrust, but couldn’t _stop._ He gripped Sephiroth’s shoulders like a lifeline, fingernails scratching shallow wounds into the man’s back. Everything was slick with sweat, Sephiroth’s loose hair clinging to their sweaty skin. Zack was keeping up a steady stream of praise, murmuring into Cloud’s ear: how hot Cloud was, how brave, how good, all the while holding Cloud’s thighs spread out shamelessly.

It didn’t take long for Sephiroth to come, having been kept waiting for so long. He spilled himself into Cloud, just like Zack had, and feeling that heat deep inside him affected Cloud just as strongly as it had before with Zack. He gasped, and clumsily pulled Sephiroth into a kiss, wanting to prolong the closeness as long as possible. Cloud wished he could get hard now, but outside of being fourteen again, there was little hope of getting another erection so soon.

Sephiroth pulled out more quickly than Zack had, but Cloud was grateful, since oversensitivity has morphed into pain by then. Everything was sticky and slippery, the mess between his legs making Cloud blush every time he thought about it. 

Zack let go of Cloud’s thighs, now aching a little from being stretched out for so long. He fell asleep to the feel of two pairs of hands massaging his slightly cramping muscles, surrounded by heat and the scent of the two men he’d met by accident, but couldn’t even imagine living without any more.


	5. Epilogue

Two years had passed since he’d accidentally bought Sephiroth and Zack as slaves. Then he’d bought their friend, Kunsel when they’d stumbled on him in Gold Saucer. Basically, it snowballed from there. Somewhere along the way, Cloud found himself the baffled owner of fifty-three SOLDIERs First Class, thirty-six Second Class, and fifteen Third Class. He had at least thirty-five missions running simultaneously, mostly delivery and protection assignments. There was so much work, there was now a unit devoted solely to keeping up communications working 24/7 in three shifts. Sephiroth had somehow become a manager of all the missions that kept coming their way, as his intimidating and no-nonsense attitude was perfect for dealing with obstinate clients. 

Instead of one advanced ship, Cloud was now flying a whole fleet of different sized units, mostly small transport ships and a few fighters, two agro-ships Cloud had received as payment from a farming colony after helping them break free of terrorising space pirates, and one artillery ship Zack had won in a bet. The SOLDIERs were a lot like uncontrollable hoarders, dragging back the oddest things from their missions. At least the transport ships were useful. People had to move from one end of the galaxy to the other in their never-ending quest to earn more money. Every single SOLDIER on board kept his or her eyes and ears peeled for any and all opportunity to earn money. Since it became something of a common knowledge that Cloud Strife would buy any and all SOLDIERs that were on sale, it wasn’t unusual for him to be approached by agents looking to make a deal. The only thing keeping the prices from skyrocketing was the fact that SOLDIERs were usually horrid slaves, always headstrong and belligerent.

Zack was the one responsible for keeping all the new acquisitions in line. Cloud had to admit he never had any problems with any of the SOLDIERs he bought. Once they realized he was not going to treat them as less-than-human, as slaves, but rather like the soldiers they were, they became the most hardworking and loyal crew he could ever wish for. Still, he was glad Zack kept order because the SOLDIERs often became…rather too eager. 

His head still hurt when he thought back to a few months ago, when the Allied Agricultural Federation announced bounties for fifteen people had proved to be involved in terrorist attacks on their planets. That was how Cloud Strife Delivery Service started dealing with bounty hunting too. Sometimes he missed the good old days when all he needed to worry about was making the deadline on a delivery. Now, Cloud didn't even know how many missions he had running at any given time. Frankly, it was difficult knowing even how many slaves he supposedly owned, with Sephiroth and Zack spearheading the campaign to find as many decommissioned SOLDIERs as possible.

That much sheer firepower, counted in SOLDIERs, was often misunderstood. Just a week ago he’d docked at a small intergalactic independent station to refuel and resupply. Cloud had used that station for years, back before the SOLDIER insanity even started. He’d been a bit confused when he was met by a very nervous and exceedingly polite Chief Administrator right in the docks. Baffled when they started insisting that they refuel his ships for free and downright uncomfortable when he was invited to stay in the Chief Administrator’s house. Instead of going to a cheap bar for dinner, he was almost forced into attending a lavish banquet.

Confused and now very uncomfortable, Cloud had to endure being served by the Chief Administrator himself. After excusing himself from the banquet early and escaping to his bedroom, he’d hoped to go to sleep and maybe the next day everything would be normal again.

His bedroom was occupied.

There were four, admittedly very beautiful and very, very naked, women inside. He stared at them, lounging in different, provocative poses and had had enough. He was man enough to admit when he was in over his head, and this was definitely it.

Flushed, he backed out of his bedroom and commed Zack.

“Bureau of Heavenly Intervention, how may I help you?” Cloud could feel his eyebrows climbing up at the unconventional greeting, but after two years, he was slowly getting used to the fact that there just wasn’t any getting used to Zack.

“I need help, Zack!” he hissed urgently into the comm. “There are _women_ Zack! _Naked_ women! In my _bed_!”

Zack blinked at him. Cloud could see Zack fighting the urge to laugh. He looked somewhat constipated.

“Don’t just stand there! _Help me_!”

“But Cloud, I’m just wondering how to tell Sephiroth you have decided to trade us in for some nubile young girl…or four,” Zack said with a surprisingly serious expression.

Cloud thought about the ex-general, about the way he could radiate displeasure and disappointment without even looking at you, and felt his dinner turn to lead in his stomach.

“Zack! You have to come here and help me before Sephiroth hears about it! Please!” So he was begging, he would do a lot more to keep this thing from his other lover. Somehow, he thought Sephiroth wouldn’t be as accepting of naked women in Cloud’s bed as Zack was.

“Heh, okay. I’ll be there in a minute. Hold your horses and don’t do anything stupid.” Zack definitely wasn’t seeing just how serious the matter was. Cloud managed to scowl at his lover before Zack cut the communications.

It was the most nerve wracking fifteen minutes of Cloud’s life, loitering outside his own bedroom and pacing back and forth, terrified Sephiroth would somehow just _know_.

When Zack finally arrived and easily persuaded the women to leave the bedroom, whispering something to them to make them giggle, Cloud made sure to keep his eyes closed. There was just too much…flesh…involved for his ease of mind.

When the door behind the last woman closed, Zack started laughing so hard he nearly cried.

Irked, Cloud watched as Zack stumbled towards the nearest settee and all but _howled_ with laughter.

“Would you stop that already?” Cloud muttered when a whole five minutes passed and Zack was still squirming and howling like a hyena, tears of mirth running freely down his cheeks.

“Only you, Spike. Only you. I swear, only you.”

“And what exactly is so funny, Zack? Chief Administrator has obviously _lost his mind_. Still, I don’t see what so funny about it?”

Zack hiccuped and wiped his face. Twice. Before he managed to speak normally.

“Cloud, sunshine, Chief Administrator was _terrified as fuck_ , because he was sure you had just invaded his little colony!”

Cloud stared.

“What?”

Zack sprawled in the settee, his black thermal shirt stretching very tightly over his muscular chest.

“Cloud,” Zack started, obviously trying for serious. “You have brought almost a hundred SOLDIERs with you and fifteen battle-ready ships. In shinra we used one third of that number to successfully conquer independent stations.”

Cloud stared, dumbfounded.

But…he just wanted to refuel.

Zack spread his legs a bit more and slouched even deeper into the settee, making the cloth of his trousers stretch over his hips in a very…inviting manner.

“So, Master Conqueror, Sir,” he drawled, looking at Cloud from under lowered lids. “Want to enjoy your spoils?”

Cloud stared, feeling his throat going dry and his own pants becoming tight, almost an innate reaction by now.

The thing with Zack was, Cloud never knew what he would do. Zack was as perfectly capable of pressing Cloud down to fuck him senseless for hours as he was for shamelessly rolling over and all but demanding to be fucked himself. It was always a challenge, always an adventure with him. He had a way of teaching Cloud so subtly through these more-than-obvious actions that Cloud often didn’t even notice he was being taught how to touch, how to move properly, much less feel awkward about it.

“I think you are overdressed, soldier.” Cloud decided to test the waters a bit, unsure of how far Zack wanted to take the play. Judging by how Zack’s pupils dilated, Cloud was on the right track.

* * *

Cloud let his bag fall to the floor of his quarters with a sigh. Instead of a few restful days on that independent station, he was forced to explain to the Chief Administrator that _no_ , he was not conquering anything, and could the man please just charge them for the supplies they’d taken? After that, Cloud beat a hasty retreat to his ship and his quarters, hoping to escape the insanity his life had become since he first tangled with the SOLDIERs.

A chime to his door pulled him out of his tired thoughts. Resigned to more work, he went to open the door. It slid open to reveal Sephiroth. The taller man was staring down at Cloud with unreadable eyes, looming in a way he’d never loomed over Cloud before. The blonde took a nervous step back.

“I heard something about women,” Sephiroth started, making a threatening step forward, forcing Cloud back into the room, closer to the bed.

Cloud swallowed uncomfortably.

“ _In your bed_.” The words were nothing but a low rumble that shivered down Cloud’s spine.

The end.


End file.
